Australia’s disability agency has stood by its advice that Labor ministers must stick to the current National Disability Insurance Scheme reform timeline despite the lack of support from the disability community. Source: The Australian.
While advocates lashed revelations that the National Disability Insurance Agency told ministers Mark Butler and Jenny McAllister that the disability community did not support the pace of reform but it was still “critical the agency remain on the timeline if we are to achieve national cabinet’s annual 8 per cent growth target”, the NDIA yesterday defended the advice in its incoming ministerial brief.
“The NDIA is committed to implementing the government’s NDIS reform agenda to ensure the NDIS delivers better outcomes for participants and is sustainable for generations to come,” an agency spokesman said.
“We will continue to work closely with participants and the disability community to deliver a stronger scheme though partnership, consultation and co-design.”
Efforts to reduce the annual growth of the NDIS from highs of more than 20 per cent down to 8 per cent by mid-2026 were agreed upon by national cabinet in late 2023 and are expected to curb the scheme’s growth by nearly $20 billion over the next four years.
As part of the incoming government brief, the NDIA noted “the scale of change … has the potential to be challenging for some cohorts” in what was likely a reference to the thousands of autistic children accessing the scheme.
Labor has sought to improve early intervention for children with developmental delays, in the face of data showing one in 11 six year olds were on the NDIS, a trend Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he was not “happy” with.
Despite the reform agenda being broadly welcomed by the disability sector, concerns have also been raised that some of the 717,000 NDIS participants were being prematurely removed from the scheme before a promised new system of services, known as foundational supports, was made available by states and the Commonwealth.
FULL STORY
National Disability Insurance Agency doubles down on government advice despite community displeasure (By Sarah Ison, The Australian)
